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Monday, 7 August 2017

I'm SO Excited For Jodie!

Yes, yes, I know. It wasn't all that long ago that I wrote a blog about us finally getting a female Doctor and in that blog, I did the whole "it's about time" and "here's why you're wrong to instantly judge this as a bad idea" thing, so I'm not going to do it again, don't fret.

But today, Jodie Whittaker - the incredible actor chosen to portray the first ever female Doctor - gave her first two major interviews since the news of her casting was made public (you can find them here) and I wanted to talk to you all about how it made me feel.

Because guys. Guys. I felt things.

This basically sums it up.

Much has been said about whether or not we should have a female Doctor (and the number of sad-cases who still use the "angry" reaction to every Doctor Who post on Facebook, shows we have a way to go before that argument dies down completely), but Jodie has - rather sensibly - avoided too much nastiness, thanks to the fact that she doesn't have any social media accounts. This means that she hasn't been dragged down by anyone saying she's "ruined the show," and her enthusiasm for the role remains utterly undimmed, despite the efforts of some of the Internet's narrowest-minded idiots.

In fact, she put it rather beautifully this morning, when she responded - calmly and rationally - to those critics by saying: "The people that are in this role, that we're excited by and passionate about, that we look up to, don't always have to tick the same box. And that's what's really incredible about it." She went on to add: "We can celebrate differences."

She is, of course, spot on.

The whole ethos of Doctor Who is that we embrace change and we welcome diversity in all its forms. The "fans" who either can't or won't see that, are missing a vital part of the show they claim to love.

I planned to shorten this gif so it didn't look like Andrew Buchan hates the idea of a female Doctor, but then I decided it was kind of hilarious uncut, so it stayed.

But even beyond Jodie's discussion of breaking down barriers to become the first female Doctor (she spoke about how, when asked what roles she'd love to play, she'd feel an urge to respond that she wanted the roles that nobody thought she could play), what got to me most of all was her excitement.

The fact that she admitted that she'd cried when she found out she'd gotten the part.

The fact that she talked with such enthusiasm about the show and the idea of playing a role that would take her on adventures.

The fact that she marvelled at "the scale of the storylines" and"the freedoms and fun."

The fact that she described Whovians as "the most kind and creative and enthusiastic people" and spoke about her joy at being a part of that community.

This wasn't your run-of-the-mill press interview, with an actor plugging their latest TV show. Jodie came across as someone exceptionally down-to-Earth, very warm, funny and genuinely, genuinely thrilled to bits to be going on this new journey.

It was her infectious enthusiasm that affected me so much. Because I am excited to see Jodie as the Doctor, but knowing how excited she is just made me even more so.

I basically just did this for an hour or so after listening to the interview.

This is a woman who knows the extraordinary turning of the tide that her casting in this role has created. She knows that there being a female Doctor after well over 50 years of it being an exclusively male character is a big thing and you could sense throughout the interview that she's both honoured and overjoyed that she's the very first woman to be handed the TARDIS keys.

"As you grow up, watching adventure films and TV shows and anything that caters to that belief that anything is possible, this is the job to do and I get to do it and that was not in the realm of possibility, ever, growing up."

Sure, there will still be people bitching about a female Doctor being wrong and awful. There's bound to be those folk who insist that the Doctor presenting as female sounds the death knell for the show and it's all downhill from here.

You know what? Let them.

Let them keep their bitterness and their inability to accept change.

I for one am even more excited than I was before, having listened to Jodie speaking about her new role. She's 100% up for the job. She's massively enthusiastic. She's just so excited.

4 comments:

I'm not a Doctor Who fan, (YET) but I recently learned that the upcoming convention near me called Fan Expo which I am going to: Matt Smith is going to be one of the guests, and I thought of you the moment I saw him on the guest list since I see you use him in a lot of your posts. :) you must have a thing for him. ;)

Haha, yes! He's my (current!) favourite Doctor and he was also my number one celebrity crush for a long time. Aw, I'm so envious! I would love to meet him. I saw him when he was in the musical version of American Psycho in London and got a wave from him as I walked past the theatre, afterwards. That's as close as I've gotten, sadly!

Awww, so I was right! At least he is what society would consider "normal" for ladies to melt over. My celebrity crush/idol: Mr. Lordi is an unusual one because he is frequently underestimated by his appearance. He dresses like a monster and doesn't show his face behind it, so in a sense his image for the band he's in has become his public identity. He may look scary but he is super nice. I met him and the other members of his band once, but I was so overjoyed I barely said a word other than "I love you", but at least he was nice and acknowledged me, so I know how you feel about that. That's great that he waved at you. Better than nothing right? Now both our celebrity crushes are aware of our existence hahaha!

Aaw, that's such a lovely story! Is that the Lordi of Hard Rock Hallelujah fame?! If not, I'm sorry for being a bit thick, haha!

Oh my goodness, it's so nice when a celebrity you admire notices you or acknowledges you. My absolute number one celebrity crush is Phil Lester (AmazingPhil on YouTube) and last year, I had two tweets from him and you'd seriously think I'd won the lottery, from my reaction to them! I was so happy, haha!